Press Releases

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact: Anne Southwood, chair of BACVOTF, 617-872-5937 or Jessica Lillie Ciccone, National PR Director, 781-559-3360

VOTF BOSTON AREA WELCOMES THE ANNOUNCEMENT OF NEW BISHOPS

NATIONAL STATEMENT
Contact: Jessica Lillie Ciccone, PR Director, votfpr@votf.org, (781) 559-3360, (314) 749-5188 cell

VATICAN REVISION FALLS FAR SHORT OF REAL REFORM
July 15, 2010-Boston – Voice of the Faithful is disappointed that the Vatican’s first significant revision of church law since the sex abuse crisis began, announced today in Rome, takes only the minimum necessary steps toward addressing the crisis.

NATIONAL STATEMENT
Contact: Jessica Lillie Ciccone, PR Director, votfpr@votf.org, (781) 559-3360, (314) 749-5188 cell

REPORT HIGHLIGHTS NEED TO END LEGALISTIC STALLING IN VATICAN RESPONSE TO ABUSE CRISIS

July 2, 2010-Boston – Voice of the Faithful believes that today’s report on the historical response of Pope Benedict XVI and the institutional Catholic Church to the sex abuse crisis, published in The New York Times, highlights the need for an immediate end to legalistic wrangling and delay on the part of the Vatican.

Contact: Jessica Lillie Ciccone, PR Director, votfpr@votf.org, (781) 559-3360, (314) 749-5188 cell

For Immediate Release
VOTF ASKS FOR SIGNIFICANT ACTION NOT APOLOGY
Pope Benedict’s Address Leaves Much to Be Desired.

Contact: Jessica Lillie Ciccone, PR Director, votfpr@votf.org, (781) 559-3360,
(314) 749-5188 cell

For Immediate Release
VOICE OF THE FAITHFUL NATIONAL CAMPAIGN CALLS FOR MORE LAY INVOLVEMENT IN REBUILDING THE CATHOLIC CHURCH

May 19, 2010 – Boston – Voice of the Faithful will mark the occasion of Pentecost, this year on May 23rd, by encouraging lay Catholics to participate fully in the rebuilding, governance and guidance of the church at all levels.

Contact: Jessica Lillie, votfpr@votf.org, (781) 559-3360, (314) 749-5188 cell or Ed Wilson, 718-858-3442, ed.anne@verizon.net

VOTF SEEKS RETURN TO LAY INPUT IN BISHOP SELECTION PROCESS
Proposal Shows Way to Move Forward from Current Scandals

The Clergy Abuse Scandal Has Hit the Top: Where Do We Go from Here?

March 16, 2010 – Boston—The clergy sexual abuse crisis that shook the very foundations of the Catholic Church in America has now reached global proportions. As many suspected all along, despite what we had been told, this horrific scandal was never a United States problem or an Irish problem, or an Australian problem or a German problem. It is a global problem that we now know extends even to the Vatican.

The moral authority of the papacy in Ireland, and of Catholic bishops here, is likely to collapse if the promised papal pastoral letter to Ireland does not squarely address the issue of the widespread cover up by bishops of the outrage of clerical child sexual abuse.

Despite the strong leadership shown by Archbishop Diarmuid Martin of Dublin, the prestige and authority of Catholic bishops in Ireland, and of the papacy, continue to decline in the wake of the Murphy report of November 26, 2009.

It is too early to be sure that the Holy See has absorbed the full import of the Murphy report on clerical child abuse in the Archdiocese of Dublin.  We are disappointed especially to hear nothing about the necessary resignations of those bishops who while in service in the Dublin archdiocese failed to challenge a cover-up culture that led to unspeakable harm to many children.  We are disappointed also that there is no reference to the failure of the Holy See to respond to requests from the Dublin Commission of Inquiry for cooperation with it.